Obama Weighs Visiting Hiroshima or Nagasaki

As reported by Gardiner Harris in the Washington Post, President Barack Obama is considering visiting one of the cities in Japan atom bombed by the United States of America at the end of World War II.

Obama will visit Japan for the fourth -- and likely final -- time as president, later this month, during a G7 meeting of industrialized countries.

Last month, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited Hiroshima during preparations for the G7 meeting, making him the highest ranking, serving U.S. official to do so.

Regarding Kerry's visit, the article reports:

“Everyone should visit Hiroshima, and everyone means everyone,” Mr. Kerry said at a news conference. He called the visit “stunning” and “gut-wrenching,” and he wrote in a guest book: “It is a stark, harsh, compelling reminder not only of our obligation to end the threat of nuclear weapons, but to rededicate all our effort to avoid war itself.”

Former President Jimmy Carter visited Hiroshima after leaving office, in 1984, as did Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in 2008, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Roos on Hiroshima Day in 2010, as has U.S. Ambassador Kennedy since assuming office.